In The Structure of Foreign News, Galtung states that “the more the event concerns elite people, the more probable it will become a news item.”[1] On the main news channel in Russia, Первыи Канал, this is most certainly true. More specifically, it is true of the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and the President Medvedev. It is from personal experience growing up and my parents watching the news channel that I can attest that not a single day goes by without the channel mentioning the two heads of government. As “nikolay” points out on an online forum, “Знаете, я давно уже телевизор отказался смотреть. А то постоянно приходилось переключать с Путина на Медведева и наоборот!”[2] Translated, this means: “You know, I have stopped watching television a long time ago. I always had to switch channels from Putin to Medvedev and back again.” As shown, bloggers have been posting on forums to express their anger at the domination of the news by two people.
Galtung points out that “the actions of the elite are, at least usually and in short-term perspective, more consequential than the activities of others.”[3] Yes, the actions of the two head government officials matter. Therefore, they must make the news more often than “ordinary people.” However, how much is too much?
Furthermore, the continuity effect triggers the consistent flow of news about the two leaders. “Once an event has ‘made it’ the news channel will be more readily open for the follow-up events, at a lower threshold value.”[4] The question that begs to be asked for this scenario is: “how low can the threshold value get?” Also, when, if ever, does it become too much? These questions require further research that is beyond the scope of this blog post.
Last but not least, the government has the controlling share of the stocks in the news channel. This has to be considered when evaluating and researching the answers to the questions in the preceding paragraphs.
[1]Galtung, Johan/Ruge, Mari Holmboe. "The Structure of Foreign News." The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers.Volume 2 (1965), Page 69.
[2]Nikolay. ОРТ Первый канал. On-tv.ru. December 13, 2010. http://on-tv.ru/ort_pervyi_kanal/ Accessed April 4, 2011. Internet.
This is a forum that allows users to communicate with each other to discuss streaming of channels over the internet.
[3]Galtung, Johan/Ruge, Mari Holmboe. "The Structure of Foreign News." The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers.Volume 2 (1965), Page 83.
[4]Galtung, Johan/Ruge, Mari Holmboe. "The Structure of Foreign News." The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers.Volume 2 (1965), Page 82.
Showing posts with label interest in a narrative. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interest in a narrative. Show all posts
Monday, April 4, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Narratable vs Unnarratable with Internet & Industry Hegemonies
The narratives that are picked and spread through social networks and the media industry are a small selection taken from the near infinite number of narratives that are created and told every day. The selection process divides narratives into a spectrum between narratable and unnaratable. In Dictionary of Narratology Gerald Prince defines narratable as something that is worth telling [1] so unnarratable using the prefix un- can be described as something not worth telling. All news sources, including the media as well as facebook statuses tell a story, and the probability and degree to which it is retold, whether it just be via local news stations or between a college network verse across the globe, is determined by how narratable it is.
In an effort to find a way to predict how narratable a narrative is scholars have used statistics to create detailed systems of analysis. One such method created by Galtung, Ruge, and Holmboe in The Structure of Foreign News [2] and then further evaluated by Harcup and O’Neill in What is News? Galtung and Ruge revisited [3] develop a numerical system where each narrative is measured based on specific characteristics such as relevance, unambiguity, unpredictability, positivity, scarcity, reference to elite people and many more. There are in total over 12 of these characteristics with some having more weight than others. These factors although discovered and analyzed through statistics are facets of human nature.
The difference between what is narratable and what is unnarratable is often quite interesting. For instance an anonymous discussion site called reddit(www.reddit.com) ranks links and articles submitted by users based on voting. Those links as well comments that the public like and vote up reach the top of the first page while those that are down voted or not voted on at all are buried in a sea of links or comments where they will rarely if ever be read. Thus those narratives which are narratable reach the front page while those which do not never get close. This creates an interesting example of hegemony described by scholar Herman in The Cambridge Companion to Narrative [4]. There it is described as “The dominance of a particular view or group over other views or groups, often through a process of manufactured consent, whereby those in a subordinate role are induced to participate in their own domination” [4]. On reddit unlike media services who dominate the public with their chosen narratives, the mob rules, which could be considered the lesser of two evils. Although, this hegemony has its problems, as often true but dissenting opinions are rarely viewed or discussed, it tends to benefit the public more than industrial news sources because the public controls it using its voting system creating a site more perfectly catered to the public. On sites like reddit articles discussing the fallacy of the political or corporate elite, which may not be shown in industrial media sources if an elite who controls the media source doesn’t want it to ruin their own or an allies reputation, are often placed on the front page because of their high relevance to the public. As seen by this thread here which links and discusses an article about the gulf oil spill but from a controversial website Al-Jazeera, that most likely wouldn’t be shown in a positive light on American television as it is here [5]. However, the most commonly found articles on reddit are of the humorous kind. This is interesting as most popular news stations on TV do not place nearly as much emphasis on the humorous, showing how in these hegemonies what is narrated may not be what is most highly narratable, but instead what the company thinks is most narratable or what is most aligned with there the ideas they wish to discuss. Additionally it may simply be the case that industrial media sources, with their limited staff, simply may not be able to compete with the billions of authors on the internet thus causing their lack of humorous and other highly narratable narratives compared to internet sites such as reddit.
Narratives are categorized in a range of narratable where those most narratable are most circulated. Narratable stories have characteristics that are desired by the listeners and are based on that communities’ nature and for global narratives the nature of mankind. However, in hegemonies not controlled by the public using voting or similar systems, what is shown may not be what is most narratable but what the dominating characters want to be discussed, which is often determined and limited by monetary gain. This monetary gain can be controlled by the viewers who control advertisement revenue, or by corporate or political sponsors, the latter which may cause highly narratable news not to be shown.
[1] Prince, Gerald: Narratable. In: Dictionary of Narratology, p. 56f
[2] Gultung, Johan/Ruge, Mari Holmboe: The structure of Foreign News. The presentation of the
[3] Harcup, Ton/O’Neill, Deirdre: What Is News? Galtune and Ruge revisited. Journalism Studies 2001, vol.2, no. 2, pp. 261-280.
[4] Herman, David (ed.): The
[5] Mepper. "This Is Everything That Is Wrong with Corporate America: The Owner of the BP Oil Rig That Caused the Biggest Oil Spill Ever, Transocean Ltd, Has Just Awarded Its Top Executives with Bonuses for "the Best Year in Safety Performance in Company's History : WTF." :Reddit: the Voice of the Internet -- News before It Happens.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
The Interest in Narrations
Built into the definition of a narrative is the idea of an "exchange function," so much so that according to Ronald Barthes, a narrative ceases to exist without both a creator, the narrator, and just as significantly, a receiver (Barthes 260). The reason people invest the time to interpret and exchange narratives is for the mass culture, or "universal language;" as an act of exchanging and sharing stories among people of different nations, cultures, and social backgrounds (Keys 181).
As depicted in the Neda video and endowing articles, people want to feel connected to each other, and when narratives such as this one combine universally discussed issues such as homeland security, feminism, liberty, and freedom it grabs attention from all around the world (Fischer 10/28). Every day each person within a society is faced with an infinite number of narratives, and an even greater amount of ways they could be interpreted (Barthes 238). Thus, exposure to narratives is inevitable, but taking the time to interpret that narrative is a choice (Peterson 61).
Text, as the main method of narrative transmission, the understanding and interest of which is constituted by the text's relationship and relevance to the media, the person interpreting it, or an area of interest that the subject would otherwise not gain admission or knowledge (Peterson 63-64). People choose to interpret the narratives to which they are exposed when and if they can relate to them, or learn something new, or acquire a piece of useful information. In a transnational context, people want to feel connected through textual and experiential reference (Keys 188).
In summation, a narrative posts interest to its interpreter if it tells them something relatable to their life, something of relevance to society at large, something entertaining to their interests, or something obscure to which they would not otherwise be exposed.
Barthes, Roland|Duisit, Lionel. New Literary History Vol. 6, No. 2, On Narrative and Narratives. Pp 237-272. The Johns Hopkins University, 1975. Web.
Keys, Barbara J. Globalizing Sport: National Rivalry and International Community in the 1930s. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006. Text.
Peterson, Mark Allen. Anthropology & Mass Communication: Media and Myth in the New Millenium. New York: Berghahn Books, 2003. Text.
As depicted in the Neda video and endowing articles, people want to feel connected to each other, and when narratives such as this one combine universally discussed issues such as homeland security, feminism, liberty, and freedom it grabs attention from all around the world (Fischer 10/28). Every day each person within a society is faced with an infinite number of narratives, and an even greater amount of ways they could be interpreted (Barthes 238). Thus, exposure to narratives is inevitable, but taking the time to interpret that narrative is a choice (Peterson 61).
Text, as the main method of narrative transmission, the understanding and interest of which is constituted by the text's relationship and relevance to the media, the person interpreting it, or an area of interest that the subject would otherwise not gain admission or knowledge (Peterson 63-64). People choose to interpret the narratives to which they are exposed when and if they can relate to them, or learn something new, or acquire a piece of useful information. In a transnational context, people want to feel connected through textual and experiential reference (Keys 188).
In summation, a narrative posts interest to its interpreter if it tells them something relatable to their life, something of relevance to society at large, something entertaining to their interests, or something obscure to which they would not otherwise be exposed.
Barthes, Roland|Duisit, Lionel. New Literary History Vol. 6, No. 2, On Narrative and Narratives. Pp 237-272. The Johns Hopkins University, 1975. Web.
Keys, Barbara J. Globalizing Sport: National Rivalry and International Community in the 1930s. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006. Text.
Peterson, Mark Allen. Anthropology & Mass Communication: Media and Myth in the New Millenium. New York: Berghahn Books, 2003. Text.
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